“I’m under the shadow of a wrecked freeway overpass propped up by tilting concrete pylons. The road, maybe two stories up, comes to an abrupt halt. The husk of a ruined bus teeters on the edge. There’s got to be something good up there, I think. Picking my way across the landscape, I eventually come to the spot where the ramp meets the earth. My suspicions were correct: The elevated stretch of freeway has been claimed by survivors. Barricades have been propped up along its length, transforming the interrupted roadway into a defensible position. There are a ton of obstacles between me and my goal, where imaginary treasure awaits.”

In other hands-on news, Gamepro.com’s Sid Shuman has a two-page preview of the game. Elsewhere, Locke Webster blogs about his play experience for UGO, noting that there might be some spoilers for folks that don’t want to know too much.

Meanwhile, it sounds like Game Revolution will have a new preview soon. Keep an eye here for new coverage.

Pete spent Monday and Tuesday letting press folks go hands-on with Fallout 3 for a few hours. Today there’s a slew of new previews and interviews to read. Here’s the rundown…

We’ll start at Gamespot, who have a video interview with Pete (shown above). I could help but laugh at the backdrop for the interview. With that fireplace, it looks like Pete is on Masterpiece Theater. When you’re done watching that, Shaun McInnis shares his latest impressions after playing for four hours. Here’s a snippet:

“Back inside the corrugated metal walls of Megaton, I walked down to the atomic bomb sitting in the middle of town. For the second time, I rolled right up next to it and gave it a good inspection. This time, I was able to disarm the thing and rescue the local citizens from the precarious position of living in a city with a live atom bomb acting as a town plaza. Lucas Simms was so grateful that he gave me the keys and deed to a local house. I was pretty excited about that, considering that I’d spent the previous night sleeping on a mattress I’d found in the Super-Duper Mart bathroom.”

Thought I’d point out a few articles I came across while going through a stack of magazines at my desk.

The September issue of Play Magazine has an interview with Fallout 3 Lead Producer Gavin Carter. In the interview, the Gav discusses topics ranging from the Gamebryo engine, game performance and Fallout 3 gameplay. Here’s a sample:

play: What gameplay situations in Fallout 3 really demonstrate the engine’s new ballistics and physics system?

Gavin: The best situations to see this in are during VATS sequences. VATS allows you to pause time, target specific areas of an enemy, and queue up moves that are then executed in a cinematic fashion.

“As my six hours with Fallout 3 came to a close, I brought up the map to see how much ground I had covered. It turned out that I didn’t see anything from the entire northern half. Even with limiting my travels to the southern region, there were still large areas I hadn’t yet had a chance to explore. This game is huge and the satisfaction you get from exploring is just as big. It’s been over a week since I played and I still can’t shake the desire to go back and look around some more. October 28 can’t come soon enough.”

Only a month to go until release. As new details surface, we’ll keep you posted.

Over at Planet Elder Scrolls, member BerenSiana has created 3D screenshots of Oblivion. No, these aren’t the type that require crazy-looking glasses like the ones above. These are actually cross-eye pictures that, as you would expect, require you to cross your eyes to see a 3D image. For more information on the concept, head here.

Let me know what you guys think. As weird as it sounds, I’m incapable of crossing my eyes. Don’t know if it’s a genetics thing, but my dad can’t do it either. It sort of makes me feel like the guy in Mallrats that tries to see the sailboat in the Magic Eye picture.

For every good, is there an evil? This certainly seems to be the case at IGN. Following David Clayman’s Good Karma preview, Erik Brudvig has followed up with a piece centering around Bad Karma in Fallout 3. In addition to the preview, check out the video above, in which Emil, Istvan, and Todd discuss playing the role of the bad guy.

In IGN’s latest Fallout 3 update for Fallout 3 Week, David Clayman shares his thoughts on Fallout 3’s karma system. While playing the game for six hours, he made a point to see how things shake down when trying to be a nice guy. Here’s a snippet:

“The next stop was Megaton. At this point we’ve all heard about the first big choice between good and evil which is the fate of this ramshackle town built around an unexploded nuclear device. Some locals worship the bomb, others just try to steer clear of it, but only you have the power to detonate or disarm the hazard. In Bethesda’s early demos they showed us what happens when players decide cash is more important than human lives and blow Megaton into the stratosphere. This time around we had the chance to experience the benefits of keeping the town on the map.”

If you’re looking for something to do before Fallout 3’s release, GameTap has the original Fallout available as a free download. Before downloading, you just need to set up a free TapID account. I tried it out, and it only took me about 10 minutes to have the game up and running.

Wanted to let you know that Gamestop.com has added a new incentive for pre-ordering Fallout 3 on their website. Along with your copy of the Game, you’ll not only receive the free Fallout 3 poster and CD, but now you’ll also receive a copy of the Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide — previously available only at PAX.

Regarding this offer, here are a few things you should know:

The Vault Dweller’s Guide is limited in quantity. When they run out of guides, that’s it.

The offer is for online pre-orders only and cannot be received with an in-store pickup.

If you’ve already pre-ordered online, you’re set to receive your Vault Dweller’s Survival Guide along with your Game, poster and CD. You don’t need to do anything else.

To pre-order Fallout 3, head here to pre-order the game on Xbox 360, PS3, or Games for Windows.